Ambulance switch angers Newport Twp. mom

Mark Moran / The Citizens' Voice
Sarah Miller said someone told her in the wake of her daughter Carleigh's seizure that the 3-year-old had been a 'pawn for politics.'

The 911 call blared over emergency dispatch radios Friday afternoon for an unresponsive 3-year-old at a Newport Township day care.

Carleigh Jo Hufford was suffering the effects of a seizure at Magic World Childhood Care Center along the Kirmar Parkway and needed help fast.

As the closest paramedic unit - just a mile and a half away - Nanticoke's Medic 25 normally would get the first call to assist the township's ambulance crew in such a serious case requiring an advanced life-support team. But members of Medic 25 were shocked to hear Luzerne County 911 dispatch Berwick Area Ambulance's Medic 95, a paramedic unit based out of a fire house on Union Street in Shickshinny, more than 10 miles away.

Just three days earlier, Newport Township ambulance officials severed ties to neighboring Nanticoke's medic unit. In letters obtained by The Citizens' Voice, the officials advised Luzerne County 911 to first dispatch Berwick's Medic 95 for assistance and then Hanover Township's Medic 9 as the second-due responder for advanced life support calls in the township.

"That day, our paramedics got really emotional and they were sitting here with their hands tied," said Dan Shaw, operations manager for Nanticoke Community Ambulance, based out of 901 S. Hanover St. in Nanticoke. "They never notified us. There was no warning. These people are dedicated. If there's a kid not breathing, they jump right into a critical situation.

"Some people will say, 'Why didn't you just run down there?' That's against state law. You can't jump a call. If you're not dispatched you have no right to be there."

After several tense hours in which her life hung in the balance, Carleigh survived her seizure episode, but is experiencing after effects and still must be evaluated by neurologists, said her frustrated mother, Sarah Miller of Newport Township.

"There was a medic down the street who could respond. It's not right. They are juggling with peoples' lives," Miller, 33, said Wednesday. "Someone told me, 'Your daughter was a pawn for politics and she was the first to suffer from it.' I think it's disgusting, to be honest."

In Carleigh's case, Berwick's Medic 95 was en route to assist Newport Township's emergency medical technicians, but had to abandon the call when it came upon a bad vehicle crash with serious injuries just after entering Newport Township from Conyngham Township, said Harold DeStefano, president of the Newport Township Fireman's Community Ambulance.

Authorities then dispatched Hanover Township's Medic 9, which is based five miles away. Newport Township's ambulance soon met Hanover's medic unit at the nearby K.M. Smith Elementary School in Newport Township, where a paramedic hopped aboard, DeStefano said.

Miller said she entered the ambulance at that time as well. She said she was overall "disgusted" by the quality of care her daughter received before arrival at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, saying emergency crews seemed "stunned" and afraid to treat Carleigh.

"The medics did not give her anything for the seizure in the ambulance. There was no IV started and no medication given," Miller said. "She vomited in the ambulance and I removed her mask and had to sweep her mouth of the vomit myself. I kept asking, 'Why aren't you helping her?'"

Carleigh's life was in serious jeopardy, her mother said.

"(Doctors) were concerned for her because she was in a seizure for so long and she wasn't responding. They were on the verge of intubating her," Miller said. "In the (emergency room), I kept asking the doctor, 'Is she going to die? Is she going to die?' He said, 'I don't know.'"

Doctors decided to transfer Carleigh to Geisinger's children's hospital in Danville. They had to drive her, because the Life Flight helicopter was grounded due to bad weather, Miller said.

"It was a very, very scary ride in an ambulance with her to Danville," Miller said.

Carleigh's condition gradually improved and her eyes opened for the first time around 7:45 p.m., more than four hours after her seizure began.

She spent the night in the hospital and is recovering at home. She has yet to return to day care. Miller said she adores the staff at the day care and they acted appropriately, promptly recognizing Carleigh's seizure and calling 911. Her lone concern was with the medical care and possible delay in treatment, she said.

"Right now, I'm just a very angry mother. I don't want this to happen to another child," Miller said. "My daughter does not have a price on her head. I almost lost her."

Newport Township ambulance officials - who say they changed response protocol because of dissatisfaction with their relationship with Nanticoke's ambulance service - noted the patient arrived at the hospital within 40 minutes of the initial call and was treated along the way.

Response logs from Luzerne County 911 about the call were not immediately available Wednesday, said county officials, who would not release the information without a Right-to-Know request.

Newport Township has a part-time basic life support unit that uses emergency medical technicians to answer ambulance calls and sometimes uses volunteer EMTs to respond to calls. An advanced life support unit, with a more skilled paramedic on board, is called to assist on more serious calls.

DeStefano, the president of the Newport Township Fireman's Community Ambulance, said he could not say much about the incident because of patient privacy concerns. He noted there has been a rocky relationship at times with Nanticoke's ambulance, but wouldn't go into details. In the end, he says Berwick's Medic 95 will provide solid service to the township's 5,400 residents.

"It was not about money. It has to do with service. Berwick gives us a better service, we believe," DeStefano said. "We have so much in the works with Berwick we wanted to do with Nanticoke and they never got back to us."

However, DeStefano noted he was willing to meet with Nanticoke ambulance officials to resurrect a cooperation agreement.

As for response times under the new system, DeStefano noted that it will take Berwick's paramedic unit about the same time to get to the center of the township's most populated section, Glen Lyon - which is about 6.4 miles from the Shickshinny fire hall where Medic 95 is stationed and 5.1 miles from the Nanticoke ambulance headquarters.

"There should be no concerns. The residents will still receive the best care," DeStefano said.

The letter to Luzerne County 911 to request the dispatch changes was sent Jan. 22 and signed by DeStefano, Newport Township Fire Capt. James Hoffman and Newport Township Commissioner Chairman Paul Czapracki. DeStefano said he had intended to list Nanticoke as third-due advanced life support responder for Newport in the letter, but it was omitted because of an "oversight."

Efforts to reach Hoffman and Czapracki on Wednesday were not successful.

The changing paramedic response protocol is expected to be a hot topic at Monday's board of commissioners meeting.

Commissioner Mike Roke, who didn't play a role in the change, said the township chooses an ambulance company each year to respond to calls in the township. The companies are governed independently and select who assists them in emergencies, but the protocol usually is negotiated and approved by the board of commissioners, he said.

"We've gotten some recent complaints. I'm pretty sure what we're going to discuss is the safety factor of the 1st and 2nd due not being adjacent to where we are at," Roke said.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.